Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

[Keys]

The below is the OG faux training report from nearly 9 years ago - often imitated but never surpassed

In the absence of Keys I went down for a trundle this morning to check them out on return. Just a few random notes I took down...

• A lot of running work again, clearly a focus even in the heat.
• Duggan looked on and was hitting targets left and right. Set for a huge 2017.
• Giles went up against Vardy in the ruck contests and I'd say that Giles has the inside running at the moment.
• Mitchell looked a class above the other midfielders bar Priddis. Just knew how to find the footy and wouldn't miss a target all session. Shuey was very quiet and seemed to be taking direction from Mitchell. Doesn't bode well for his captaincy credentials, maybe he doesn't want the gig?
• Won't say too much about it in case I was just reading too much into it, but Rioli looked as though he'd enjoyed the Christmas break a bit too much. A few of the coaches pulled him aside and they were having quite an animated conversation before Rioli was sent to do laps for the rest of the session. Good news for Le Cras, I suppose.
• Sheed kicked on his right foot for 80% of the session, I reckon. Nice to see players working on their non-preferred so readily.
• Petrie looked like he was doing a great job 'coaching' the younger forwards in between the drills. Darling in particular seemed to be following him around.
• Gee Venables has some skills. He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.
• What interested me the most was that McGovern split his time between the defenders and the forwards, could be seeing a swingman role in 2017. He was his usual dominant self down back in some match simulation drills before going head-to-head with Mackenzie in a forward role.
• Bayok is very fast - Cripps was in most of the drills with him and couldn't keep up.
• Nelson is pale as buggery and still doesn't really have the body shape you'd expect of an AFL player.
• There was a big bloke who pulled up next to me and I could have sworn it was Suma, but I'm sure I was wrong...
• Masto was the player picked to kick the goal at the end today and nailed it. Celebrations were huge.
• No sign of Cole, Parto or Hill. Couldn't tell you why.

Will upload pics later if I have time. Let me know if you have any questions!

You might wonder why I’ve put this up and stickied it

Because this is the standard all copies should be measured against and it’s a reminder of how high the bar was set

And to hopefully discourage sequels.

If you want to have a crack in my absence, go ahead but if it doesn’t equal the standard set (as judged by me), then expect

• A one week threadban for a first offence
• A two week threadban for a second offence
• A one year threadban for a third offence

Actual training reports, minus discussion, can become found here:

Training - Preseason Training Reports -2025/26

This thread has been setup for training reports only and won’t be open for replies Informative reports from the preseason thread will be copied into this thread so posters have access to the quality work from the likes of LittleFires without wading through pages of general posts

www.bigfooty.com

 

[jesterwester]

A few niggles aside, it’s been pleasing to see most of the squad up and running and seemingly gone to work over the last couple of months. Preseasons are so important these days so hopefully we aren’t playing as much catch up as last year and the year before (and the year before).

We have some pain to come, I think we all know it- but it’s only going to get better if the whole club gets on board and not just waiting for select individuals to pick up the slack. This next few months is make or break for some.

 

[jdisc]

Would actually be hilarious if Barnett became good

 

[txbyhull]

Would actually be hilarious if Barnett became good

I think a lot of people would genuinely be a little salty at how wrong they were, even if they’re happy he comes good

 

[TheNewAnchor]

After looking at the snaps from last week's training session the assertion that we need hardened bodies to look after the young fellas has been exaggerated, most of the kids if you want to call them that are approaching brick sh*thouse proportions. The young guys coming through now are so much more developed and prepared than their counterparts were 10-15 years ago.

I accept that the "old head" argument has some weight but there's enough experience now amongst the 20-23 age range to physically take it up to any opposition. I'm not saying that we're going to have some almighty incremental improvement, but I think we can put the young bodies, young heads argument to bed in 2026. The guys we're likely to draft this year have all (or most) had experience at a senior level and by all reports have met or exceeded expectations at that level.

Notwithstanding, we still have Duggan, Graham, Baker, Waterman, Kelly, Starcevich, Cripps, McCrae, Robertson and a couple of others in the pensioner's league to provide a presence on-field.

 

[DorothyG]

There's a huge difference between the "gym" strength and endurance of a young 19, 20, 21 y.old who has had a couple of seasons in the system and a handful of league games, to that of a bloke who is in his 5, 6+ season and 100+ games in the legs.

A 19–21 y.old can hit good gym numbers, but they haven’t had years of:
-repeated contact loads
-absorbing and generating force under fatigue
-bracing in awkward positions
-reacting unconsciously to incoming pressure

The nervous and muscular systems become efficient at rebuilding and recovering muscle fibres in a footy specific sense.

Denser tissue, stronger stabilising muscles which build over the years

Footy specific movement patterns also developed with experience not gym.
Holding positioning, balance, absorbing force, weight transfer etc. these are learnt, not taught

And then there is the psychological/pain tolerance etc that come with experience. Again, you can't teach this stuff, it only comes with experience.

Old man strength, baby. It's a thing.
Years of accumulated stress and recovery.

That's why the 25-28 range is considered peak for most. They are totally different physical beasts to even the most prime 19-20 year old

That's why the team of 20 years Olds will always get monstered by the seasoned team. That's why we need protection, and can't have age profiles like we fielded in the Carlton game last season.

 

[SAweagle]

There's a huge difference between the "gym" strength and endurance of a young 19, 20, 21 y.old who has had a couple of seasons in the system and a handful of league games, to that of a bloke who is in his 5, 6+ season and 100+ games in the legs.

A 19–21 y.old can hit good gym numbers, but they haven’t had years of:
-repeated contact loads
-absorbing and generating force under fatigue
-bracing in awkward positions
-reacting unconsciously to incoming pressure

The nervous and muscular systems become efficient at rebuilding and recovering muscle fibres in a footy specific sense.

Denser tissue, stronger stabilising muscles which build over the years

Footy specific movement patterns also developed with experience not gym.
Holding positioning, balance, absorbing force, weight transfer etc. these are learnt, not taught

And then there is the psychological/pain tolerance etc that come with experience. Again, you can't teach this stuff, it only comes with experience.

Old man strength, baby. It's a thing.
Years of accumulated stress and recovery.

That's why the 25-28 range is considered peak for most. They are totally different physical beasts to even the most prime 19-20 year old

That's why the team of 20 years Olds will always get monstered by the seasoned team. That's why we need protection, and can't have age profiles like we fielded in the Carlton game last season.

Standard sunday night for a stud like myself

 

[jdisc]

I think a lot of people would genuinely be a little salty at how wrong they were, even if they’re happy he comes good

odd

I'd more than happily take the L if we got a competent young ruckman out of that project

 

[We_The_West]

Is anyone heading to today's training to save us from pages of dribble comparing when they lost their BF virginity

 

[Farmer Lister]

Standard sunday night for for a stud like myself

Get monstered by a seasoned team?

 

[RookiePick]

I want BarnettWatch this pre season. I want change in running style, leaping style, I want to know if his hairstyle changed. **** the cornrows I want him to shave a lightning bolt on the top of his head and run around wearing a red cape

Its the year of the Barnett peoples

At least the club has made it easy to know when his story arc is about to make a pleasing progression this year

 

[LittleFires]

The playing group hasn’t come out of the sheds yet this morning but Tom Gross has just finished doing another MAS running test with a trainer.

Good news - he appears to have improved on last week’s time. When the 1st-4th year players did their running test last week I tried to note when they finished (they announce the speeds over the loudspeakers as they increase the pace, increasing by 1km/h every minute or so).

Last week Gross finished on 17km/h pace just after H.Reid and Champion, but this time he made it to 18km/h, putting his finish time closer to the likes of Johnston, Hewett, Bazzo and Brock - these are the players I noted also finished on 18km/h pace.

The kid was flogged on the track last week with running sessions so it’s nice to see a bit of reward for him.

 

[FKASC]

The playing group hasn’t come out of the sheds yet this morning but Tom Gross has just finished doing another MAS running test with a trainer.

Good news - he appears to have improved on last week’s time. When the 1st-4th year players did their running test last week I tried to note when they finished (they announce the speeds over the loudspeakers as they increase the pace, increasing by 1km/h every minute or so).

Last week Gross finished on 17km/h pace just after H.Reid and Champion, but this time he made it to 18km/h, putting his finish time closer to the likes of Johnston, Hewett, Bazzo and Brock - these are the players I noted also finished on 18km/h pace.

The kid was flogged on the track last week with running sessions so it’s nice to see a bit of reward for him.

Apparently they added a bloke in a Richmond jumper behind him this week

 

[Convocation]

I realise the irony in what I'm about to post, but why do so many feel like they have to post about their thoughts on every single thread (rehtorical, please don;t respond to this question). Would be nice if we had just one, just one thread that was what it said was, and not a thread full of innane comments irrilevent to the thread. 21 pages that should be 3 or 4 max because of pointless, irrilevent, rarely amusing comments.

 

[WCErevival]

I realise the irony in what I'm about to post, but why do so many feel like they have to post about their thoughts on every single thread (rehtorical, please don;t respond to this question). Would be nice if we had just one, just one thread that was what it said was, and not a thread full of innane comments irrilevent to the thread. 21 pages that should be 3 or 4 max because of pointless, irrilevent, rarely amusing comments.

Happens every offseason. Can't do much about it.

 

[Keys]

I realise the irony in what I'm about to post, but why do so many feel like they have to post about their thoughts on every single thread (rehtorical, please don;t respond to this question). Would be nice if we had just one, just one thread that was what it said was, and not a thread full of innane comments irrilevent to the thread. 21 pages that should be 3 or 4 max because of pointless, irrilevent, rarely amusing comments.

I’ll be copying the reports into a separate thread so people can read them without wading through any superfluous discussion

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Gee

 

[LittleFires]

Biggest player turnout yet this morning for a relatively light session to start the week, focusing mostly on skills and lasting just over 90 minutes. About a dozen players appear to be on slightly modified programs at the moment and completed varying portions of the session away from the main group today. However the majority of those look to be moving quite well and tracking in the right direction.

As I mentioned earlier, Gross was the only one out there when I arrived at 9:00 and was completing the MAS running test with a trainer. The playing group came out about 15 minutes later and got into their warm up, before moving onto some kicking on the run, groundball work and handballing. They then split into two groups and did a drill involving pulling off short kicks under pressure. After this came a full-ground drill where they practised switching the ball in their back 50 and then moving the ball forward quickly to get to a leading forward. All of the drills today were split up by group run throughs of the centre square.

To finish the session they again split into smaller groups working on more position-specific craft, and ended with about 10 minutes of group run throughs along the entire length of the field. Most players went inside around 10:50 and the most eager trainers had all left the track by 11:05.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• I spotted 34 of our 38 currently-listed players, with only Brockman, Kelly, Flynn and Starcevich unsighted
• Tom Cole and [PLAYERCARD]Jack Graham[/PLAYERCARD] made their first appearances of the preseason and trained fully
• Got my first look at Tylar Young, although he didn't actually do any training - came out around 9:30 and spent the rest of the session spectating and chatting with coaches/players on the sidelines. Unsure if he's injured (no visible signs of this) or just watching to see how we train before getting into it later this week - time will tell.
• WAFL signing Archie Watt was training again but Ash Johnson was not out there, so there were 34 total on the track today.
• Bailey Williams probably did the least of the players I did see (sans Young), only coming out around 10:00 for some light tap work with the rucks and doing no further training
• Barnett did about an hour of work away from the main group, completing run throughs, light handballing and kicking work and finishing with some light tap work with the rucks. Did some time on the exercise bike afterwards.
• Dewar and Jack Williams warmed up with the main group but split off after, completing run throughs and later joining Barnett for some kicking and handball work. Dewar finished up around 10:15 while J.Williams also did some ruck work with B.Williams and Barnett afterwards, before heading inside at 10:30.
• Champion and Yeo did the first 20-25 mins with the main group before splitting off and joining the rehab group. Similar to the above they completed run throughs and some kicking work, with Champion spending a lot of time running alongside [PLAYERCARD]Chance Bateman[/PLAYERCARD]. Both finished up around 10:30
• Cripps and Duggan did the first 30-35 minutes of the main session before splitting off and running laps together, some at quite high speed. They also did some kicking work and finished just after 10:30
• Hall did the first 45ish minutes with the main group but split off at one stage to do some work on the exercise bike. He then did some on the spot handball work with Shuey and finished early. He did cop a pretty big knock during Wednesday's training session so I wonder if that has something to do with his lighter training load today.
• Ginbey and Hough completed most of the session but split up on one occasion to do some agility work together. For the full ground ball movement drill Hough wore a bright green cap to indicate non-contact.
• Gross did the vast majority of the session with the group after his running test but was spared the additional run throughs at the very end of the session, heading inside at 10:30.
• Waterman (shoulder) and Harley Reid (calf) trained fully.

A few other notes:

• Ginbey, Brock and Baker stayed out for 10 minutes after the main group had gone inside to do some extra kicking practice
• Waterman and Hough also stayed out after the main group had left, testing out their shoulders with some tackling and contested work
• Archer Reid was also one of the last to leave, staying behind to practise his set shots. He didn't do any ruck work today and played as one of the key forwards in the full-ground ball movement drill.
• Brock and Bazzo both look in good nick, with Brock in particular definitely looking well-built compared to last year.
• As I mentioned in my initial post, Gross seems to have improved on his time from last Monday in the MAS running test he did this morning. Nice reward for effort for him after enduring a few big running sessions last week.

Unfortunately I probably won't be able to make it to the other training sessions this week, but I'll be back for the senior players' return next Monday. Hopefully The Worst or someone else can fill you in (in my absence...)

 

[KERRPOW]

i've been catching bus no. 39 the last few days which runs down howick st and you can get a glimpse of the oval as the bus passes lathlain place.

this morning i had a glance and they put up a green blockout.

 

[FKASC]

Archer practicing his goalkicking eh

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Biggest player turnout yet this morning for a relatively light session to start the week, focusing mostly on skills and lasting just over 90 minutes. About a dozen players appear to be on slightly modified programs at the moment and completed varying portions of the session away from the main group today. However the majority of those look to be moving quite well and tracking in the right direction.

As I mentioned earlier, Gross was the only one out there when I arrived at 9:00 and was completing the MAS running test with a trainer. The playing group came out about 15 minutes later and got into their warm up, before moving onto some kicking on the run, groundball work and handballing. They then split into two groups and did a drill involving pulling off short kicks under pressure. After this came a full-ground drill where they practised switching the ball in their back 50 and then moving the ball forward quickly to get to a leading forward. All of the drills today were split up by group run throughs of the centre square.

To finish the session they again split into smaller groups working on more position-specific craft, and ended with about 10 minutes of group run throughs along the entire length of the field. Most players went inside around 10:50 and the most eager trainers had all left the track by 11:05.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• I spotted 34 of our 38 currently-listed players, with only Brockman, Kelly, Flynn and Starcevich unsighted
• Tom Cole and Jack Graham made their first appearances of the preseason and trained fully
• Got my first look at Tylar Young, although he didn't actually do any training - came out around 9:30 and spent the rest of the session spectating and chatting with coaches/players on the sidelines. Unsure if he's injured (no visible signs of this) or just watching to see how we train before getting into it later this week - time will tell.
• WAFL signing Archie Watt was training again but Ash Johnson was not out there, so there were 34 total on the track today.
• Bailey Williams probably did the least of the players I did see (sans Young), only coming out around 10:00 for some light tap work with the rucks and doing no further training
• Barnett did about an hour of work away from the main group, completing run throughs, light handballing and kicking work and finishing with some light tap work with the rucks. Did some time on the exercise bike afterwards.
• Dewar and Jack Williams warmed up with the main group but split off after, completing run throughs and later joining Barnett for some kicking and handball work. Dewar finished up around 10:15 while J.Williams also did some ruck work with B.Williams and Barnett afterwards, before heading inside at 10:30.
• Champion and Yeo did the first 20-25 mins with the main group before splitting off and joining the rehab group. Similar to the above they completed run throughs and some kicking work, with Champion spending a lot of time running alongside Chance Bateman. Both finished up around 10:30
• Cripps and Duggan did the first 30-35 minutes of the main session before splitting off and running laps together, some at quite high speed. They also did some kicking work and finished just after 10:30
• Hall did the first 45ish minutes with the main group but split off at one stage to do some work on the exercise bike. He then did some on the spot handball work with Shuey and finished early. He did cop a pretty big knock during Wednesday's training session so I wonder if that has something to do with his lighter training load today.
• Ginbey and Hough completed most of the session but split up on one occasion to do some agility work together. For the full ground ball movement drill Hough wore a bright green cap to indicate non-contact.
• Gross did the vast majority of the session with the group after his running test but was spared the additional run throughs at the very end of the session, heading inside at 10:30.
• Waterman (shoulder) and Harley Reid (calf) trained fully.

A few other notes:

• Ginbey, Brock and Baker stayed out for 10 minutes after the main group had gone inside to do some extra kicking practice
• Waterman and Hough also stayed out after the main group had left, testing out their shoulders with some tackling and contested work
• Archer Reid was also one of the last to leave, staying behind to practise his set shots. He didn't do any ruck work today and played as one of the key forwards in the full-ground ball movement drill.
• Brock and Bazzo both look in good nick, with Brock in particular definitely looking well-built compared to last year.
• As I mentioned in my initial post, Gross seems to have improved on his time from last Monday in the MAS running test he did this morning. Nice reward for effort for him after enduring a few big running sessions last week.

Unfortunately I probably won't be able to make it to the other training sessions this week, but I'll be back for the senior players' return next Monday. Hopefully The Worst or someone else can fill you in (in my absence...)

Great write-up!

i've been catching bus no. 39 the last few days which runs down howick st and you can get a glimpse of the oval as the bus passes lathlain place.

Exquisite write-up!!!

 

[squashface]

Archer practicing his goalkicking eh

He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.

 

[Elite Pete]

This time next week hopefully we have a heap of new faces out there.

 

[bzparkes]

He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.

Running was clearly the focus in the heat.

 

[Astro7]

i've been catching bus no. 39 the last few days which runs down howick st and you can get a glimpse of the oval as the bus passes lathlain place.

this morning i had a glance and they put up a green blockout.

Highly informative, keep up the good work. cheers!

 

[Astro7]

Biggest player turnout yet this morning for a relatively light session to start the week, focusing mostly on skills and lasting just over 90 minutes. About a dozen players appear to be on slightly modified programs at the moment and completed varying portions of the session away from the main group today. However the majority of those look to be moving quite well and tracking in the right direction.

As I mentioned earlier, Gross was the only one out there when I arrived at 9:00 and was completing the MAS running test with a trainer. The playing group came out about 15 minutes later and got into their warm up, before moving onto some kicking on the run, groundball work and handballing. They then split into two groups and did a drill involving pulling off short kicks under pressure. After this came a full-ground drill where they practised switching the ball in their back 50 and then moving the ball forward quickly to get to a leading forward. All of the drills today were split up by group run throughs of the centre square.

To finish the session they again split into smaller groups working on more position-specific craft, and ended with about 10 minutes of group run throughs along the entire length of the field. Most players went inside around 10:50 and the most eager trainers had all left the track by 11:05.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• I spotted 34 of our 38 currently-listed players, with only Brockman, Kelly, Flynn and Starcevich unsighted
• Tom Cole and Jack Graham made their first appearances of the preseason and trained fully
• Got my first look at Tylar Young, although he didn't actually do any training - came out around 9:30 and spent the rest of the session spectating and chatting with coaches/players on the sidelines. Unsure if he's injured (no visible signs of this) or just watching to see how we train before getting into it later this week - time will tell.
• WAFL signing Archie Watt was training again but Ash Johnson was not out there, so there were 34 total on the track today.
• Bailey Williams probably did the least of the players I did see (sans Young), only coming out around 10:00 for some light tap work with the rucks and doing no further training
• Barnett did about an hour of work away from the main group, completing run throughs, light handballing and kicking work and finishing with some light tap work with the rucks. Did some time on the exercise bike afterwards.
• Dewar and Jack Williams warmed up with the main group but split off after, completing run throughs and later joining Barnett for some kicking and handball work. Dewar finished up around 10:15 while J.Williams also did some ruck work with B.Williams and Barnett afterwards, before heading inside at 10:30.
• Champion and Yeo did the first 20-25 mins with the main group before splitting off and joining the rehab group. Similar to the above they completed run throughs and some kicking work, with Champion spending a lot of time running alongside Chance Bateman. Both finished up around 10:30
• Cripps and Duggan did the first 30-35 minutes of the main session before splitting off and running laps together, some at quite high speed. They also did some kicking work and finished just after 10:30
• Hall did the first 45ish minutes with the main group but split off at one stage to do some work on the exercise bike. He then did some on the spot handball work with Shuey and finished early. He did cop a pretty big knock during Wednesday's training session so I wonder if that has something to do with his lighter training load today.
• Ginbey and Hough completed most of the session but split up on one occasion to do some agility work together. For the full ground ball movement drill Hough wore a bright green cap to indicate non-contact.
• Gross did the vast majority of the session with the group after his running test but was spared the additional run throughs at the very end of the session, heading inside at 10:30.
• Waterman (shoulder) and Harley Reid (calf) trained fully.

A few other notes:

• Ginbey, Brock and Baker stayed out for 10 minutes after the main group had gone inside to do some extra kicking practice
• Waterman and Hough also stayed out after the main group had left, testing out their shoulders with some tackling and contested work
• Archer Reid was also one of the last to leave, staying behind to practise his set shots. He didn't do any ruck work today and played as one of the key forwards in the full-ground ball movement drill.
• Brock and Bazzo both look in good nick, with Brock in particular definitely looking well-built compared to last year.
• As I mentioned in my initial post, Gross seems to have improved on his time from last Monday in the MAS running test he did this morning. Nice reward for effort for him after enduring a few big running sessions last week.

Unfortunately I probably won't be able to make it to the other training sessions this week, but I'll be back for the senior players' return next Monday. Hopefully The Worst or someone else can fill you in (in my absence...)

Great write up. Was Kelly out there?